Resources at Amazon

Amazon Blows The Roof Off – Second Quarter Sales up 51% to $9.91 Billion

July 26th, 2011 by Skip McGrath

Amazon.com, Inc. today announced financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2011. Second Quarter Sales were up 51% to $9.91 Billion over the same quarter last year.

Net sales increased 51% to $9.91 billion in the second quarter, compared with $6.57 billion in second quarter 2010.

Operating income was $201 million in the second quarter, down from $270 million in second quarter 2010.

Net income fell 8% to $191 million in the second quarter, or $0.41 per diluted share, compared with net income of $207 million, or $0.45 per diluted share, in second quarter 2010. A lot of the loss was due to a sale of equity investments.

“Low prices, expanding selection, fast delivery and innovation are driving the fastest growth we’ve seen in over a decade,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. “Kindle 3G with Special Offers has quickly become our bestselling Kindle at only $139. Customers love the convenience of a 3G reader — no hunting for or paying for Wi-Fi hotspots. Amazon picks up the tab for the 3G wireless, so you have no monthly payments or annual contracts.”

Here are some other highlights:

Sales growth of Kindle devices accelerated in second quarter 2011 compared to first quarter 2011.

Since AT&T agreed to sponsor screensavers, Kindle 3G with Special Offers is now our bestselling Kindle device – at only $139. With Kindle 3G, there’s no wireless set up and no paying or hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots. Kindle 3G’s always-on global wireless connectivity means that wherever you are, you can download books and periodicals in less than 60 seconds and start reading instantly. Amazon pays for Kindle’s 3G wireless connectivity, which means the convenience of 3G comes with no monthly fees, data plans or annual contracts.

Amazon.com announced the launch of Kindle Textbook Rental, offering students savings of up to 80% off textbook list prices. Tens of thousands of textbooks are available for the 2011 school year. In addition, Kindle Textbook Rental offers the ability to customize rental periods to any length between 30 and 360 days, so students only pay for the specific amount of time they need a book.

The U.S. Kindle Store now has more than 950,000 books, including New Releases and 110 of 111 New York Times Bestsellers. Over 800,000 of these books are $9.99 or less, including 65 New York Times Bestsellers. Millions of free, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books are also available to read on Kindle.

The Company launched MyHabit.com, a membership-only fashion destination offering up to 60 percent off list prices of designer and boutique brands in women’s, men’s and children’s departments, with the convenience of free, instant membership; fast, free shipping and free return shipping in the U.S. on eligible items; and fast, $15 international shipping.

Amazon.com announced that customers will be able to stream TV shows from CBS’s vast library. Amazon Prime customers will be able to instantly watch thousands of episodes from the CBS library at no additional cost to their membership. With the deal, Amazon will add 2,000 episodes to grow the total number of Prime instant videos to more than 8,000 movies and TV shows. Starting this summer, dozens of CBS shows will also become available to Amazon Instant Video customers.

The Company announced three enhancements to Amazon Cloud Drive and Cloud Player: storage plans that include unlimited space for music, free storage for all Amazon MP3 purchases and Cloud Player for Web, now on iPad.

Amazon announced that Marketplace sellers can list their products across all its European websites using just one single seller account, allowing sellers to make their inventory available across Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr and Amazon.it. Customers benefit from access to millions of additional products. Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) sellers can now also store their products in an Amazon fulfillment center in one country and offer them for sale across all of Amazon’s European websites.

North America segment sales, representing the Company’s U.S. and Canadian sites, were $5.41 billion, up 51% from second quarter 2010.

International segment sales, representing the Company’s U.K., German, Japanese, French, Chinese and Italian sites, were $4.51 billion, up 51% from second quarter 2010. Excluding the favorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, sales grew 36%.

Worldwide Electronics and Other General Merchandise sales grew 69% to $5.89 billion. Excluding the favorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, sales grew 62%.

So all in all, despite falling consumer sales and a soft economy, Amazon has bucked the trend and shown great growth. Now if only eBay could learn a thing or two from them.

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